Sena takes swipe at PM, tells him govt not ‘amar’

The Sena, an ally of the BJP, defended its right to criticise the party in power.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena Monday wondered why the coming together of 22 Opposition parties was giving him the shivers and told him not to live under the illusion that his government was immortal.

Referring to the Opposition’s show of unity at a rally organised by All India Trinamul Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee Saturday, the Sena, in its editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana said, “Most of the leaders who attended the rally, including Banerjee, were once allies of the BJP under Atal Bihari Vajpayee's leadership and there is no need to ridicule them. Modi's government is not an enemy of the country but he should not live under the illusion that his government is ‘amar’ (immortal).”

Even as it distanced itself from the coming together of several regional parties, the Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, defended its right to criticise the party in power. Ms Banerjee had invited Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to the rally, but the party was the first to sound the poll bugle from its own field (read: Maharashtra), the editorial said.

“All those present on Banerjee's platform were secularists. The Sena is not pseudo-secularist. Our ideology is 'Hindutva' and we are firm on our stand on the issues of the Ram temple and uniform civil code. The Kolkata rally could not have digested the Sena’s stand,” the editorial read.

Referring to the Prime Minister’s recent speech at Larsen & Toubro’s gun-making facility in Gujarat, the Shiv Sena said, “Why did he (then) get the shivers by the coming together of 22 Opposition parties?”

It said in the same manner in which the BJP has the right to stay in power by contesting polls, the Opposition also has the right to expose the government and defeat it.